


Inverse

by ihatsu



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: M/M, One-sided Gellert Grindelwald/Newt Scamander, One-sided Grindelnewt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, eventual gramander, mentions of Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 20:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18598672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihatsu/pseuds/ihatsu
Summary: In which Grindelwald assumes Newt's identity, instead of Percival Graves, in the events of New York.





	Inverse

Newt was kneeling next to the cage where the majestic Thunderbird was shackled to the ground. He murmured soft promises of a place in America where he, now named Frank, could be safe and unencumbered by terrible people who wished him harm. The copper-haired man managed to coax Frank into his suitcase, the electric blue eyes of Dougal peeking out. He knew the Demiguise would guide the Thunderbird to an appropriate habitat until he could get himself properly situated in a secure area. He was so single-mindedly focused on the bird that he didn’t hear footsteps approaching him from behind.

“Such a magnificent creature.” A rapturous voice drawled, startling the magizoologist into spinning around to face the newcomer. His green eyes flew open, panic settling across his features, but before he could defend himself, the man had already hit him with a spell. _“Petrificus Totalus.”_

Newt’s body collapsed on the floor, stiff like a board, sand particles floating around from the disturbance. His face was in perpetual surprise, still aware of his surroundings and the presence of the Dark Lord hovering above him, but unable to do anything. A cold, calculating smile stretched over his mouth, mismatched eyes piercing his as the man infiltrates his mind. Newt had never been strong in Occulumency and the feeble walls he struck up fell without much of a fight. He found himself unwillingly swimming amongst his memories as they were dragged to the forefront, the ache of his temple the only thing keeping him conscious. Grindelwald sifted through his most recent memories rather quickly, but halting for a brief second when he saw Newt’s conversation with Dumbledore a couple of weeks ago.

“Yes... You will do nicely, Mr. Scamander. Have a nice sleep now. _Somnium.”_ As his eyes gently closed, he saw the older man’s features melting into his own. Then darkness overwhelmed him and he knew no more.

* * *

 

When Newt slowly came to, his mind felt a bit foggy, almost like he was a blank page ready to be written on. His attention darted to the wizard in front of him -- Grindelwald, if he remembered correctly. The man had a relaxed air about him, a pleasant smirk tilting the corners of his mouth up.

“I'm glad you're awake, Mr. Scamander. I'm afraid you passed out after dealing with those awful smugglers. And that poor Thunderbird…” The pale-haired man muttered, trailing off at the end. Newt stared at him for a second too long, before fully comprehending what he was saying.

“Oh, Frank, I really must get around to settling him in. After all, it will be a long journey to Arizona.” Newt explained, more to himself than anyone else. He barely acknowledged the other's presence. He languidly rose from the cot in his suitcase and approached where Dougal was currently tending to the few Occamy hatchlings. There were a couple that remained void of life, but they both retained some semblance of hope. “Dougal, will you take me to where you've left Frank?”

“Mr. Scamander,” Grindelwald's voice cut through his one track thoughts. Newt peered over his shoulder, “I hope you don't mind if I distract you for another moment?” The magizoologist conceded his attention and swiveled around to fully face the older man. “I was hopeful that I might accompany you to America. For the Thunderbird.”

“Of course, that would be lovely, Mr. Grindelwald.” Newt was polite because he saw no threat or any reason to be worried in this situation. Not like he had experienced before with smugglers or poachers and the Dark Lord was content with keeping the man in what he believed to be a ‘safe environment.’

“I do need to make a detour to England beforehand though. There is some… business I must attend to.” The wizard supplied, vaguely. “I must speak to your brother about something.”

“Oh, well, Theseus is a busy man, but I'm sure he could make time for you. Would you like me to set something up for you?”

It was almost a little weird for the Dark Lord to see the man before him act so docile and accommodating. In his memories, he was a spitfire of a personality, only held back by his anxiety and awkwardness with social interactions.

“No, no, don't fret about that, little lizard.” Grindelwald paused for a second, unsure where the slip up come from, but he continued nonetheless, “I just need to know a bit about the Ministry before I visit. I wouldn't want to go in blind and seem rude, you see.”

“That would make sense, I've had enough experience ‘making a fool of myself’ as Theseus would put it.” Newt proceeded to outline the basic security procedures on entering the British Ministry of Magic, of which they were woefully lacking in. That only made Grindelwald's job easier though, so it was of no consequence to him. The redhead proceeded to describe where the Head Aurora's office was, seeing as that was his brother's. The blonde thanked the younger and ushered him to attend to Frank. Newt happily obliged, disappearing from the cramped living area of his suitcase. Grindelwald picked up the peacock blue coat lying on the desk and tossed it on, his body morphing into Newt Scamander. The Complaisance spell would hold for a while as long as the target remained content. For Newt, there was no place he would rather be than in his suitcase tending to his creatures.

* * *

 

Grindelwald always had a flair for the dramatic. He had originally thought to disguise himself as the Director of Magical Law Enforcement over in America, but he eventually decided against it. The position was too publicly visible and of too high importance for him to comfortably slither into. He did another search for someone just notable enough.

Grindelwald stumbled across a young man by the name of Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, and if his name wasn’t peculiar enough, his history and choice of career certainly were. A magizoologist by trade and the younger brother of Head Auror for the British Ministry, Theseus Scamander, a hasty promotion for a man well-regarded for his acts of heroism during the Great War.

On the other hand, the younger Scamander was quite infamous, but for entirely different reasons. He was an outcast at Hogwarts amongst his peers and expelled just shy of his sixth year for some incident involving a magical creature and the injury of another student. It was odd that the Dark Lord could see so many parallels in their stories and yet, both of them took vastly diverging paths. Irregardless, the boy had become notoriously good at taming beasts of all shapes and temperaments, if the underground whispers were anything to go by. This was what piqued his interest the most of all the details he had discovered. Not to mention Newton was an individual not prone to staying in one place for too long to form any significant personal relationships, making him all the more perfect as a target.

Grindelwald saw an opportunity and he snatched it up, a plan already forming in his clever mind. He would assume the Scamander boy's identity and cause chaos amongst the Wizarding Community.

It was laughably easy to track the magizoologist down to a smuggler encampment in the middle of the Egyptian desert. When he petrified the other wizard, Grindelwald briefly wondered why he didn’t simply kill him, but ultimately, he had decided that the boy had a rare affinity with beasts that couldn’t be ignored.

So he kept Newton stowed away inside the battered briefcase, ignorant to the outside world. Grindelwald fed him with a steady stream of abused and terrified creatures, and Newt took them in wholeheartedly and without question. Over the next couple of weeks, he began to observe a mysterious glint to the British man’s eyes. Afraid that the Complaisance spell he had placed on him was wearing off, he repeated it, but the shine stubbornly refused to vacate. One day and out of the blue, Grindelwald realized that it wasn’t related to his spell weakening, but rather, it was a sparkle of adoration. He knew that Newton had never received acceptance or tolerance for his preference for magical creatures from anyone in his life -- this was the first time that someone, even if that person was the Dark Lord, had openly acknowledged and hadn’t criticized him for it. It was a pitiful fact.

Newton spoke to him in soft tones, not only a result of the spell, but of his growing infatuation. It was nice in Grindelwald’s eyes to be spoken to freely and without hesitation. He consistently visited the boy in the recesses of the suitcase, slightly awed by the amount of knowledge about exotic creatures encased within the other’s brain. He grew to enjoy these visits, even though they had started off with the intention to solidify his persona as Newton Scamander. Often times, the blonde would depart with a silky caress to the boy’s cheek, seeking to impart a modicum of affection to encourage Newton, and it worked exceptionally well.

Unfortunately for the Dark wizard, things would begin to unravel once he arrived in New York.


End file.
